Sole-cutting machine



W. S. SHAW.

SOLE CUTTING- MACHINE. v l APPLICATION FILED .IUNE 5, 1920.

1,408,537. Patented Mar. 7,1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

w. s. SHAW.v

SOLE C UTIING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 5, 1920.

1 ,408,53?. Patented Mar. 7,l 1,922..

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED sra'ras N,ra'ien'r Lcarica.

WILLIAM slsimw, or cnicaeo, ILLINois.

SOLE-CUTTING- MACHINE.

Be it known 'that l, lYILLi'Aii SHAW, a citizen ot' the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county ot Cook and State oi" Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful lmprovements in gicle-Cuttingr Machines,of which the following is a specifici tion, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, and to the reference characters marked thereon,'which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to new anduseful improvements in sole-leathercuttingv ma-l chines and has for its principal object to provide in whatis commonly known as a beam sole-leather cutting machine, spuitablemeans for simultaneously cutting a plurality of soles, both rights andlefts, with the minimum oi' waste leather, and with the maximum otspeed, while practically eliminating the danger heretofore attendantupon the` operation of cutting out soles. Also to" provide a machine inwhich the leather to be operated upon may be quickly and accuratelyplaced in operative ,position and which may be operated effectively byunskilled labor,-such as a hoy or Vgirl with very little practice.

' The machines generally in use lor, cutting out soles employ a movabledie or knife movableby hand to operative position over the leather, fromwhich the sole is to .he cut, and after the reciprocation ot the poweroperate(V benny the die is `shifted to another position on thc leatherand the operation is repeated, one sole being thus cut 'trom the leatherwith each descent ot the beam. The operation oit such machines is notonly attended. with considerable danger to the opeiiatorlnit requiresthe operi tor to be specially skilled in order 'to properly position thedie or knife tor each succeeding cut to avoid waste of material; lilithmy machine, these diliculties and objections enlarged, o1 that face ot'therbeam on which the cutting knives or dies are adjnstably mounted.

Specification of Letters Patent.

'ot Fig.' 2.

invention and ther be. employed tor so connecting the `power lFig. I?,is a longitudinal vertical sectional view yot' a portion ot this beam,taken in theV plane indicated by the dotted line 3-'3 Fig 4t is a.transverse vertical sectional view ot the same, taken in the ,plane`indicated by the dotted line -l ot Fig. B.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of ai sole alter being` cnt tromthe leatherstrip by my machine.

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view showing a strip ot leather onthe cuttingtable with full lines indicating six pairs ol soles to be cuttherefrom.V

Figs. 7 and 8 are enlarged plan views of a pair of cuttingl knives, andthe angleV block-s to which they are respectively se-V cured.

9 is a transverse vertical sectional view ot one of the latter, taken inthe plane ot the line 9-9 ot Fig. S.

Fig. i0 is a similar view taken in the plane of the line l0l0` of Fig.8.

Fig. ll is asimilar view showing a clearing device for the cutters.

.in said drawings, A represents the machine as a. whole, B the strip ofleather and C a. sole cut therefrom. `The machine comprises side ;tramemembers D, connecting girth members'the front one being shown at lil, areciprocating beam member F, sup.- ported upon rods 7, j?, an operatingrotatable power driven shaft KGf, an operating presser toot men'iher Hand a hed plate or not Aforming per se lere not illustrated) willslla'lt tal' with the beam li fand the presser toot ll. as to cause thebeam VF to be reciprocated once with each operation of the presser iiooti y .Patented Mar. *7, l1922. `Application filed .Tune 5, 1920. SerialNo. 386,701.

any part of the present that is to say, the beam will descend toward thetable I to perform the Y cutting operation Yand'tlien be returned ttoits original orzraised positioinflrom which latteizit will not moveuntil the presser foot be again actuated by theoperator.

any suitable means be employed yfor vgivingthe table l any desiredvertical adjustment, as for "example, fthe `rods .l controlled by a hand`wheelvK. i rlhe soles C', asintoted in Fig. 5, have a ,straight toe orfront end'margin l and a straight back margin 2, parallel with the liofront margin. The side margins are curved with a concave portion 3 and aconvex portion iI-. The cutting knives 5 each provided with a sharpcutting edge G are made in pairs,rights and leits, and. are eachprovided with suitable apertures through which bolts 7 may be passed.These bolts extend lthrough suitable apertures in the vertical flangemember S of a backing plate 9 and a nut Yil O on the bolt 7 clamps thekniie and the plate firmly together. Ul course, asmany ot these bolts 7may be used as desired, but l {ind that two are ordinarily suiiicientfor the purpose. The iront face o'l the flange 8.

conforms to the concavosconvex shape oit the f :utting knife 5, asclearly shown in Figs. 7 and ln that portion oi" the backing plateoutside ot the flange 8, l provide suitable bolt slots 11 through whichbolts 12 may be passed to secure said backing plate and knife 5 to theunder surface 133 ot the reciprocating beam F. ln the surface 13 areparallelV slots lele, 1d, which extend longitudinally of the beam. Theseslots are ot a width adapted to receive and hold the bolts 12. The boltheads 15 oi the bolts 12 are oi course larger than the width oit theslots 14k and in order that the bolts 12 may be positioned in saidslots, the latter are provided preferably at each end with an enlargedslot or opening 1G, through which the bolt heads 15 are first passed tothe side 13a, and the bolt 12 is then moved into the slot 1a throughwhich it depends downwardly as shown in Fig. 3. The angle backing plate9 is then positioned, the bolts passing through the slots 11 thereof andthe backing plate and knife secured in proper position by the nut 17.

Two cutters 5 complementally arranged, constitute a pair required to cutthe sole C. These are shown, in juxtaposition, in Figs. 7 and SEV-thatshown in Fig. 7 being the le'lt and that in Fi S being the right lier agiven sole.` This pair ot knives and their respectivo backing blocks l'designate as a whole by the letters L and R.

The outer margin 18 ot each block 9 is preferably a straight edge, 'torconvenience in adjusting a plurality oit pairs oi L and R cutters to thesurface 13. In setting the cutters (see Fig. 2) on the machine, l placethe l cutter (Fig. 8) at the extreme right hand end, say, and the. Lcutter next to it in the relative positions of Figs. 7 and 8, care being taken to have the cutting surfaces 6 such distanceapart as may benecessary to cut the sole C theright size. Then a similar R cutter isplaced. in the machine, with its straight edge 18 adjacent the edge 18of the already positioned lirst mentioned L cutter.

`Then a second L eutterris put into the maA chine and adjusted withrespect to the cut! ting edge G of the second R cutter, just as thefirst L cutter was adjusted to the first R cutter; and so on until thedesired number olf pairs of L and R cutters have been adjusted,

, by means of the bolts and slots to the surface ter, so that the edges18 meet, the distance between the cutting edges 6 of an L cutter and anR cutter is such as to leave between them a piece of leather the exactshape of the sole C, but for a left instead of a right sole. Thus thepair of L and ll cutters, while in tact in one operation cutting out aplurality of right soles, automatically leave between the soles thus cutan equal number of lett soles. This is indicated by the diagrammaticview of F ig. 6, where each alternate sole is a right and theintermediate one a left. V

lt will be noted that by this arrangement oit the cutters, a very smallamount of scrap leather is lett, namely: the end pieces Z), l). Theleather strip B, before being placed in the machine', is preferably cutto the desired length for forming four, tive or six pairs oi soles, andof a width equal to the length'of the sole C-that is, equal to thedistance between the margins 1 and 2.

lVhere it is desired to make soles oi ditlerent widths, the L and Rcutters may be so bolted or adjusted that the straight edges 18, 18,will not meet when the cutters are placed back to back, or the knivesmay be bolted to the backing` plates 9 of different widths. ln shoppractice, it is Atound convenient to have different sets ot L and R-cutters made up, with the backing plates 9 oli di'tl'erent sizes, sothat the edges 18, 18, will be designed to meet when adjusted foroperation. The backing plates 9 may be made ot cast or wrought metal,but in either event are so shaped as to contorni to the desired contouret the knives F.

lVhen the cutters 5, 5, stamp out a sole (l. the latter is apt to remainlfrictionallv in contact therewith, and suitable clearance or strippingdevices will ber employed tocause a disengagement ott-he cut-out solesC, (l, when the cutters are withdrawn on the return stroke. Such adevice is illustrated in Fig. 11, wherein a headed bolt 20 is held by alock nut 21 to the beam F ln the instance shown, the bolt is inthe slot14. A. spring 22 is secured at its upper end to the bolt 20 with thelower end floating below the bolt end and below the plane ot the cuttingedges 6 of the knives 5. latter pierce through the leather. the springwill be compressed and when the beam F is raised, the spring 22 lwillexpand and push les lVhen the the blank sole C from the positionshown indotted lines in Fig. l1 to that shown in full lines therein.

Preferably two of these clearing devices will be used for each sole cut,and the bolts may be secured by any suitable means other than the slots14. The slots 11 in the angle plate 9 will also afford means forpositioning the bolt 20.

In operation, after the desired number of pairs of L and R cutters areadjusted to the surface 13 of the reciprocating beam F by the machinistor operator, the cutting of soles may be accomplished by unskilledlabor, without danger of injury to the operator. A leather strip B isplaced in the machine upon the table l, the presser foot H. actuated, aplurality of soles, rights and lefts, are formed by the first cuttingoperation. As before stated, the connection between the driving shaft(fi, the presser foot H and the beam F are such that but a singlecutting action occurs with one operation of the presser foot H. As soonas the beam F is raised' to its original position, the operator simplypushes a second strip B into the machine upon the table I. The act ofinserting the second strip B automatically pushes the cut soles andwaste strips 5,]9, olf from the table I, where they may fall into someconvenient receptacle. The operator does not have to put his hand in thespace between the table I and the cutters in placing the leather strip Bin position, or in removing the cut out soles, and therefore there is nodanger of accident or injury due to the accidental or unintentionaloperation ot the presser foot H, as not infrequently occurs in othertypes of machines.

The operation of the machine is simple and rapid, as the operator iscontinuously at work reaching for and moving a second. strip B to themachine while the first one is being cut. One of the advantages of themachineis its durability, d ue to the fact that the beam is equippedwith only rightscle dies so spaced that in performing the cuttingoperation for the right soles, the left soles are formed in thc sameoperation. The capacity of the machine is'thus increased and the wearand tear on the cutting edges is reduced fifty per cent.

I claim as my invention:

1. A sole cutting machine comprising a work holding table, a verticallyreciprocat ing beam, there being a plurality of parallel slots extendinglengthwise of and through the face of said beam, a plurality of pairs ofcutter knives, each pair being adapted to cut a right (or left) sole,means cooperating with said slots for adjustably securing the cutterknives to said beam so that the space between the proximate knives ofadjacent pairs will outline a left (or right) sole.

2. A sole cutting machine comprising awork holding table, a verticallyreciprocating beam carrying cutting knives, there being a plurality ofparallel slots through the face of the beam extending lengthwisethereof, each slot being of a size to receive the shank of a bolt and anenlarged or bolt head opening at the end of each slot whereby thecutting knives may be adjustably secured to the face of said beam.

3. In a sole cutting machine having a vertically reciprocating bea-m anda work holding table, there being a plurality of parallel slotsextending lengthwise of, and through the face of the beam, a pluralityof pairs of cutting knives, each pair being adapted to cut a right (orleft) sole, means cooperating with said slots fory adjustably securingsaid knives to said beam in pairs so that the space between theproximate knives of adj acent pairs will outline a corresponding left(or right) sole at each cutting operation, said means including aresilient part secured to the beam with the free end of said partdepending below the plane of the cutting edges of said knives.

4. In a sole cutting machine having a movable beam having longitudinallydisposed slots through the face thereof, a cutting knife comprising ablade proper and an angle backing block having complemental surfaces,means for securing the cutter blade to its block, and means cooperatingwith said slots for securing the cutting knife to the beam.

.ln testimony, that l claim the foregoing as my invention l. affix mysignature, in the presence of two witnesses, this 3rd day of June, 1920.

WILLAM S. SHAW.

lVitnesses B. L. MACGREGOR, L. A. PERLow.

